The Summit [NOOK Book]

Overview

www.KatMartin.com

The dream came again and again—a little girl abducted from her own yard

Autumn Sommers knows the danger of ignoring such powerful omens. Twelve years earlier, she could have prevented a tragic accident if only she had acted on those horrible nightmares. This time, she knows what she has to do.

Her research into local missing persons suggests that the girl in Autumn's dreams ...

More About
This Book

Overview

www.KatMartin.com

The dream came again and again—a little girl abducted from her own yard

Autumn Sommers knows the danger of ignoring such powerful omens. Twelve years earlier, she could have prevented a tragic accident if only she had acted on those horrible nightmares. This time, she knows what she has to do.

Her research into local missing persons suggests that the girl in Autumn's dreams could be Molly, the daughter of businessman Ben McKenzie. Still emotionally shattered from his loss and unwilling to trust this stranger, Ben is angered rather than relieved to hear her theory that Molly is still alive. Certain that she may be the girl's only chance, Autumn persists, until Ben grudgingly agrees to explore this tiny, if improbable, shred of hope.

As Autumn's dreams become more and more vivid, she and Ben pursue their leads leads that point to more murders, and to the only person in control of whether they live or die.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"The fast pace and romantic chemistry never falter." —Publishers Weekly on Against the Odds

"Genuinely chilling, and probably best read in daylight hours, this isn't just a ghost story." -RT Book Reviews on Scent of Roses

"Kat Martin has written a fantastic paranormal romance that hooked me from the beginning... An incredible read."-Fresh Fiction on Scent of Roses

"Fans of Martin's Raines of Wind Canyon trilogy are going to love meeting more of this testosterone-and-honor-laden family..."-RT Book Reviews on Against the Storm

"[Martin] dishes up romantic suspense, sizzling sex and international intrigue in healthy doses, and fans are going to be the winners. Readers better set aside a block of time to finish this unputdownable tale of adventure and romance." -RT Book Reviews on Against the Sun, Top Pick!

Related Subjects

Meet the Author

Kat Martin is the New York Times bestselling author of more than fifty historical and contemporary romance novels. To date she has over 13 million copies of her books in print in seventeen countries, including Sweden, France, Russia, Spain, Japan, Argentina, Poland, and Greece. Kat and her husband, author Larry Jay Martin, live on their ranch outside Missoula, Montana, and spend winters at their beach house in California. Kat invites you to visit her website at www.KatMartin.com.

Read an Excerpt

Autumn Sommers tossed and turned, an icy fear creeping over her. Gooseflesh rose over her skin and moisture popped out on her forehead at the vivid, frightening images expanding into the corners of her mind.

A little girl raced across the freshly mown front lawn of her suburban home, laughing as she played kickball with her friends—a child five or six years old with delicate features, big blue eyes and softly curling long blond hair.

"Get the ball, Molly!" a little red-haired boy shouted. All of the children were around the same age.

But Molly's curious blue eyes were fixed on the man standing on the sidewalk holding a fuzzy black-and-white puppy. Ignoring the ball, which rolled past her short legs into the shrubs at the edge of the yard, she hurried toward the man.

"Molly!" Angry, the little boy raced after the ball, picked it up and gave it a sturdy kick back toward the other children, who squealed with delight and chased after it.

Molly saw only the adorable little puppy.

"You like Cuffy?" the man asked as she reached up to pet the dog with gentle, adoring strokes. "I have another puppy just like him. His name is Nicky, but somehow he got lost. I was hoping you might help me find him."

Lying in bed, Autumn shifted restlessly beneath the covers. "No " she muttered, but the little girl couldn't hear her. She moved her head from side to side, trying to warn the child not to go with the man, but little Molly was already walking away, the puppy held snugly in her arms.

"Don't go " Autumn whispered, but the little girl just kept walking. Still clutching the puppy, the child climbed into the car and the man closed the door. He made his way to the driver's side, slid behind the wheel and started the engine. An instant later, the vehicle rolled quietly down the street.

"Molly!" One of the girls clamped her small hands on her hips. "You're not supposed to leave the yard!" She turned to the red-haired boy. "She's really gonna be in trouble."

Worried now, the boy stared down the empty tree-lined street. "Come on! We've got to go tell her mom!" The children started running toward the pathway that led to the house.

When the boy reached up and slammed the knocker down hard on the door, Autumn awakened from the dream.

Her heart was thundering in her chest. Staring up at the ceiling, she blinked several times as the dream slipped away. Then she dragged in a couple of calming breaths; the dream was over. Yet she remembered it clearly and was still unnerved by what she had seen.

With a sigh, Autumn glanced at the glowing red numbers on the digital clock beside her bed. It was almost 6:00 a.m., her usual time to get up. She was a fifth-grade schoolteacher at Lewis and Clark Elementary, though the summer break had just started and she was off work until the first of September. She punched off the alarm before it buzzed and swung her legs to the side of the bed.

Grabbing her quilted pink robe from the foot of the bed, she raked back her short auburn hair. It was naturally wavy; she only had to shower and towel herself dry and her hair fell into soft russet curls around her face. For her busy athletic lifestyle it suited her perfectly.

Autumn thought of the dream as she headed for the bathroom of her twelfth-floor condo. Were the images she had seen a result of something she had watched on TV? Maybe something she had read in the newspapers? And if they were, why had she experienced the same dream three nights in a row?

The shower beckoned, steam rising tantalizingly up inside its glass doors. She stepped beneath the soothing spray, then spent several minutes soaping and washing her hair, indulging herself in the warm, caressing water.

A few more minutes spent in front of the mirror to apply a light touch of makeup and fluff out her hair, then she headed back into the bedroom to dress for the day. In jeans and a T-shirt, she went into the living room, a cozy, sunny area with sliding glass doors at one end leading out onto a balcony overlooking downtown Seattle.

With her father's help, she had purchased the condo five years ago, just before real estate values had gone completely out of sight. She would have preferred one of the small Victorian homes near the Old Town district, but the condo was all she could really afford.

As a compromise to living a high-rise lifestyle, she had furnished the interior with antiques and hung lacy curtains at the windows. She had pulled up the carpet in the living room and replaced it with hardwood floors, then covered them with floral rugs and painted one of the walls a soft shade of rose. The bedroom was done in a floral print and she had bought a canopy bed.

The apartment was homey, nothing like the house in her dream, which, she had noticed last night, appeared to be a large custom-built, beige stucco tract home with fancy brick trim. She had only gotten a glimpse or at least remembered only enough to get the feeling the area was fairly exclusive, the children nicely dressed and obviously well cared for.

Autumn sighed as she grabbed her purse and headed for the elevator in the hall. She was meeting her best friend, Terri Markham, at Starbucks for coffee before she headed over to her summer job at Pike's Gym. One of the things she liked best about living in the city was that everything was in walking distance: museums, theaters, libraries and dozens of restaurants and cafés.

The grammar school where she taught was only a few blocks away, the gym just up the hill and Starbucks—her favorite—sat down on the corner.

Terri was waiting when she arrived, twenty-seven years old, the same age as Autumn, a brunette who was slightly taller and more voluptuously built than her own petite, five-foot-three-inch frame. Both women were single, both career women. Terri was a legal secretary at one of the big law firms in town. They had met five years ago, introduced by mutual acquaintances. They say opposites attract and maybe that explained the friendship that had grown between them.

Autumn pushed open the glass door leading into the coffee shop. Terri shot to her feet and waved from the back of the room.

"Over here!" she called out.

Autumn wove her way through the tables that were packed with morning coffee drinkers and sat down in one of the small wrought-iron chairs, gratefully accepting the double-shot, non-fat latte that Terri shoved toward her.

"Thanks. Next time it's my turn." Autumn took a sip of the hot foamy brew that was her favorite morning drink and saw her friend frown above the rim of her paper cup.

"Honey, those dark circles are a dead giveaway." She grinned. "I didn't get a whole lot of sleep, myself, but I bet I had a lot more fun."

Autumn rolled her eyes. Everything about the two women was different. Where Autumn was interested in sports and loved being out-of-doors, Terri was obsessed with shopping and the latest fashions. And when it came to men, they couldn't have been more opposite.

"I thought you stopped seeing Ray." Autumn took a sip of her coffee. "You said he was dull and boring."

"I wasn't with Ray. I'm through with Ray. Last night at O'Shaunessy's I met this really hot guy named Todd Sizemore. We really clicked, you know. We had this, like, incredible karma or something."

Autumn shook her head. "As I recall, you said you were going to reform. No more one-night stands. You said from now on you were going to get to know the guy, make sure he wasn't just some deadbeat."

"Todd's not a deadbeat—he's a lawyer. And the guy is terrific in bed."

Terri always thought the guys were great in bed the first time they made love. It was after she got to know them that the problems began. Autumn's emotions were too fragile to handle casual sex, but Terri was far more outgoing and spontaneous. She dated as many men as she could fit into her busy schedule and slept with whomever she pleased.

Autumn rarely dated. Except for her two teaching jobs—one at the grammar school and the other at exclusive Pike's Gym where she gave classes in rock-climbing, her passion in life—she was kind of shy.

"So I know why I didn't get any sleep," Terri said. "What about you? You didn't have that weird dream again, did you?"

Autumn ran a short, neatly manicured nail around the rim of her cup. "Actually, I did."

After the second time it happened, she had told Terri about the dream, hoping her friend might have seen or read something that explained the occurrence.

"Was it the same? A little girl named Molly gets into a car and the guy drives away?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"That's weird. Most people have recurring dreams about falling off a cliff or drowning or something."

"I know." She looked up, a tight feeling moving through her chest. "There's something I've never told you, Terri. I hoped I wouldn't have the dream again then I wouldn't have to worry about it."

Her friend leaned across the table, shoulder-length dark brown hair swinging forward with the movement. "So what haven't you told me?"

"This same thing happened to me once before—when I was a sophomore in high school. I began having this nightmare about a car wreck. My two best friends were in the car. And another kid, a new kid at school. I dreamed the new guy got drunk at a party and drove the car into a tree. It killed all three of them."

Terri's blue eyes widened. "Wow, that really was a nightmare."

"Back then I didn't say anything. I mean it was a dream. Right? I was only fifteen. I thought if I mentioned it, everyone would make fun of me. I knew they wouldn't believe me. I didn't believe it myself."

"Please don't tell me your dream came true."

Autumn's chest squeezed. She never talked about the nightmare. She felt too guilty. She should have done something—said something—and she had never forgiven herself.

"It happened exactly the way I dreamed. The new guy, Tim Wiseman, invited my friends Jeff and Jolie to a party. Tim was a year older and apparently there was liquor there. I guess they all got a little drunk, which Jeff and Jolie had never done before. On the way home, Tim was driving. It was raining and the streets were wet and slick. Tim took a curve too fast and the car slid into a tree. He and Jeff both died instantly. Jolie died a couple of days later."

Terri stared at her in horror. "Oh my God."

Autumn glanced away, remembering the devastation and overwhelming grief she had felt back then. "I should have said something, done something before it was too late. If I had, my friends might still be alive."

Terri reached over and captured Autumn's hand. "It wasn't your fault. Like you said, you were only fifteen and even if you'd said something, no one would have believed you."

"That's what I tell myself."

"Has it happened again anytime since then?"

"Not until now. The first time, before my friends died, my mom had been killed two years earlier in a car wreck, so I figured maybe that's why I dreamed the dream, but now I don't think that was it. I keep hoping this isn't the same, but what if it is? What if there's a little girl out there somewhere who's about to be kidnapped?"

"Even if there is, this isn't like before. You knew those kids. You don't have any idea who this little girl might be. Even if she exists, you don't know where to find her."

"Maybe. But if I knew the people in the dream before, maybe this little girl is someone else I know. I'm going to check the school records, take a look at student photos. Maybe the face or name will click."

"I suppose it's worth a try."

"That's what I figure."

"You know I'll help in any way I can."

"Thanks, Terri."

"Maybe you won't dream it again."

Autumn just nodded, hoping that was true. But she couldn't help remembering how vivid the dream was and how clearly she could recall it.

She finished her coffee as she got up from her chair. "I'd better get going. Class starts at nine and I've still got to change into my climbing clothes."

Terri smiled. "Maybe this summer you'll meet someone interesting in class. With all those hard bodies around, there's got to be someone."

Autumn ignored the remark and waved as she headed for the door. Terri was always trying to help her find the right man, but Autumn steered clear of most men. Since high school, she'd had nothing but disastrous relationships. In college she had fallen in love with Steven Elliot, a fellow student at Washington University. She and Steve had dated seriously their sophomore through senior years. Autumn was madly in love with him and they talked a lot about marriage and kids.

It seemed her future was set until that afternoon just before graduation when Steve told her he wanted to end the relationship.

"I just don't love you, Autumn," he had said. "I thought I did, but I don't. I never meant to hurt you, but I have to get on with my life. I hope things work out for you." He had left her standing in the quad, crying like an idiot, hating herself for having fallen in love with him.

She had gone on to graduate, then continued school long enough to get her teaching degree, but it had taken years to get over losing Steve.

Standing on the corner, she pulled her sweater a little closer against the breeze and waited till the stoplight changed to green. She crossed from Second Avenue to Third then continued toward Pike Street. The sun was out today but the air was damp and clouds had begun to gather on the horizon. Seattle got more than its share of rain but Autumn never minded. She had grown up in Burlington, a little town north of the city. The beautiful pines and nearby ocean were worth the clouds and rain.

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Customer Reviews

XXXOOOBookwormOOOXXX

Posted September 30, 2014

I Also Recommend:

I didn't want to put this one down and it took every ounce of re

I didn't want to put this one down and it took every ounce of restraint I had to not peek to the end. Kat Martin showcases her incredible writing skills with this beautiful tale that is a testament to the strength and enduring quality of love. Autumn Sommers dreams of a little girl named Molly, witnessing her kidnapping in the dream. Haunted by the memory of a past dream that came true, Autumn is determined to find out who Molly is, particularly as the dream keeps returning to her, over and over again. Her search leads her to wealthy sporting goods store owner, Ben McKenzie. Ben McKenzie is a self-made millionaire, and since his daughter was lost he and his wife have divorced, and he has thrown himself into that business. Now Autumn won't leave him alone, and he has come to accept the death of his child. Reopening those old wounds to find her a fake, after his money would kill him. When Autumn was 15 she ignored a dream which resulted in the deaths of her two best friends. Knowing what she knows now, Autumn knows that she won't be able to live with herself until she finds out who the girl is. After searching the library's archived news stories, Autumn's search brings her to Ben McKenzie. Though she doesn't personally know him, Ben owns the building where she teaches rock climbing classes for a local gym. She knows that seeing Ben is what triggered her dreams. Great read.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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kayteeMD

Posted December 28, 2012

Good Read

I am a Kat Martin fan and the book was a good read.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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Iggy50

Posted December 23, 2012

I really lliked this book. I have read almost all of Kat Martin'

I really lliked this book. I have read almost all of Kat Martin's books, and I couldn't put this one down. The only con I would give is that she needs someone to proof read them and help with spelling errors. Other than that the plot was great and the story held my interest throughout the book. Well done!!!!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Un-put-down-able

The Summit was an incredible read. Intriguing from the start. Fast paced and hard to put down. Kat Martin knows how to draw the reader in and you almost feel as if you are a part of the story. Great writing and story telling on Ms. Martin's part. Ben and Autumn were a great lead couple. For those of you who like it...lots of sex too. Can't wait to get started on the next installment of this trilogy...Season of Strangers.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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elfBP

Posted October 10, 2014

Recommended

Interesting approach. I thought it was well written.

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Anonymous

Posted October 4, 2014

Me

J: Great story!!!

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jef71

Posted August 23, 2014

The Summit by Kat Martin: This book is about missing children.

The Summit by Kat Martin: This book is about missing children. Autumn Sommers had a horrible nightmare about a little girl who went missing. She reseached into local missing persons and found a little girl who looked like Molly, the daughter of Ben McKenzie.She had to talk to Mr. McKenzie and tell him what she had seen in the dream.He would not listen to her, so she had to make him listen.Ben is angered rather than relieved to hear what she has to say. She had to tell him her theory that Moilly is still alive.She had to make him trust her so they could for Molly. Very good book, and well written

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Anonymous

Posted July 25, 2014

Not bad

Not my favorite Kat Martin book but it wasn't too bad. The heroine could be a little annoying by constantly having doubts throughout the book. Loved the hero though.

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MaLadyReadsalot

Posted January 26, 2013

This Book's a 10!!!

If you're a Kat Martin fan or are just looking for a fantastic read, this book won't let you down! Kat Martin at her absolute BEST!!!

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Anonymous

Posted August 22, 2007

Another Keeper

Autumn Sommers has had these premonitions before. She ignored them when she was younger with tragic results. This current dream involves a young girl named Molly. After some digging Autumn realizes the girl is the missing daughter of a client at the gym where she works. Autumn knows she has to convince Ben McKenzie to see her and believe her. Ben McKenzie's marriage did not survive the taking of his young daughter. He thought he had heard it all until Autumn Sommers came to call. Ben is leery at first to believe this is all from a dream. Can she really be seeing his daughter alive six years latter? Ben isn't convinced initially but he cannot at least give this a shot. Circumstances have Autumn and Ben literally in each others pockets. What starts out as a search for a missing child leads to feelings on both of their parts. The Summit is Kat Martin at her best. The truth behind the dreams are shocking as well as terrifying. The race to find Molly will keep you up late reading. Also the sexual tension and chemistry between Ben and Autumn flows right along with the suspense. I know I am in for some chills and hot romance when I pick up a Kat Martin book.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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A reviewer

A dozen years ago, Autumn Sommers ignored her nocturnal dreams resulting in a tragedy that she feels she could have prevented. Filled with guilt and remorse, she vowed never again. --- Currently in the Seattle area, school teacher Autumn has visions of a young girl. She follows up by looking at missing persons reports until she thinks the star of her dreams is Molly McKenzie, the daughter of the CEO of McKenzie Enterprises. Divorced Ben has never been the same since his beloved Molly vanished six years ago although he hides his feelings as much as possible from his beloved other child ten years old Katie. When Autumn tells him what she has seen, he explodes in outrage accusing her of trying to take advantage of a grieving father. Fully convinced she is the only one able to rescue Molly, Autumn refuses to back down until she persuades, albeit reluctantly, skeptical Ben to follow her lead that takes them to a religious sect. --- This paranormal romantic suspense thriller stars two interesting ¿antagonists¿ who share in common obstinacy that comes in handy when they must confront a charismatic sect leader (think Jim Jones) who has plans for the flock. What takes the story line to the SUMMIT of the sub-genre is the reactions of Ben, his ex-wife and the rest of the family to the disappearance of Molly thought dead by all readers will feel the anguish, the guilt, and the uncertainty of what to wish for as closure is nowhere near until Autumn arrives with a spring of hope. In spite of being well written and interwoven into the story line, the love subplot seems unneeded (except to fit inside the sub-genre) as the rescue of Molly is the key link between the lead duo. Kat Martin is at her best with this exhilarating tale. --- Harriet Klausner

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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